iBook G3 900Mhz: How to Change the Hard Drive

The Apple Macintosh iBook line of laptop computers was never meant for average users to repair or upgrade. That makes life difficult when you need to change out the hard drive in an iBook. You'll need to disassemble much of the computer just to get to the hard drive area. Once you have gone through that effort, swapping out the hard drive is easy. The example in this article is for the iBook G3 900MHz 14-inch model.

• 1

  Remove all power sources from your iBook G3 900MHz laptop. This means disconnecting the power cord and removing the battery. You can use your thumbnail or a coin to remove the battery. Then, put on an anti-static wrist strap or touch something metal such as lamp or the exposed metal in the battery compartment to discharge static electricity.

• 2

  Open the iBook G3 900MHz laptop screen. Find the two keyboard clips, one above the "1" key, the other above the "Delete" key. Pull these toward you to unclip the keyboard, then flip the keyboard over so it sits on the part of the iBook away from the screen. If your iBook has an AirPort card installed, find the wire clip, then push it in the direction of the card. Raise it away from the AirPort card, then grasp the plastic tab attached to the card and pull it to the right. Disengage the antenna before removing the card. Unscrew two screws on the shield under the AirPort card. Use the bracket on the shield to lift out the shield. Disconnect the keyboard cable.

• 3

  Close the screen and turn the iBook face down. Locate the three rubber discs on the corners of the computer. Carefully pry these up and set them aside. Remove the exposed screws, then raise the washers that are still attached to the bottom of the computer. Three additional T8 screws hold the bottom casing in place. Remove them. Inside the battery compartment near the connector, unscrew the two visible screws. The bottom casing still is held by plastic clips along the rim. To disengage these, start at the battery compartment and push in the two sides. Then unclip the casing from the clip in the battery compartment. Gently use a thin plastic utensil to slide along the bottom casing, releasing clips as you go. Remove this casing and set it aside.

• 4

  Remove the two springs from the battery chamber. The bottom of the computer has a silver metal shield. Nine Phillips screws need to be removed around the edges of this shield. Flip over the iBook, open the screen and remove the magnet in the middle near the screen. In the keyboard space, remove the three Phillips screws on the left side. The trackpad cable is secured in a lock, so lift the top of the lock before disconnecting the cable.

• 5

  Open the optical drive door by inserting a paper clip into the hole next to the drawer, then ease out the drawer approximately halfway. Raise the upper case from the left side, then disengage two more cables. Take the upper casing off. The silver metal shield on the top of the iBook has 16 Phillips screws that must now be removed. The shield may still have tape on the bottom and left side holding it in place. Remove the tape, then take out the shield. The hard drive is in the lower left corner.

• 6

  Unscrew the Phillips screw in the right lower corner of the hard drive. Look for an orange cable at the bottom and raise this up. Disengage the tape that holds a cable on the left side of the drive. You now can lift up the hard drive, flip it over, and gently disconnect the hard drive data cable. Your drive may have brackets on either side. If so, unscrew and remove them. The drive still has four T8 screws, two on each side, which need to be removed.

• 7

  Reverse the above steps to connect your new hard drive and reassemble your iBook.